Important Notice

M F Husain's paintings of Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and the Gaja Gamini series depicting Madhuri Dixit, spanned the spectrum from the reverential to the sensual. In paintings such as the present lot, a darker palette and ambiguous facial features create an aura of mystery. A vertical composition places the woman painted in profile in a restricted space. She is seated in contemplation and holds an orb. An unspoken dialogue is suggested... M F Husain's paintings of Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and the Gaja Gamini series depicting Madhuri Dixit, spanned the spectrum from the reverential to the sensual. In paintings such as the present lot, a darker palette and ambiguous facial features create an aura of mystery. A vertical composition places the woman painted in profile in a restricted space. She is seated in contemplation and holds an orb. An unspoken dialogue is suggested between them. Husain often juxtaposed objects and symbols to tap into unformed emotions and to add a layer of meaning to his paintings. Through his paintings of women, Husain created a range of emotions. "Women dumb with grief; forlorn and inconsolable women; women in their mercurial moods; seductive women; women limp with longing; women delirious with passion, roused to a ferocious sexuality; women supine in anguish; women forsaken... he has known them all, and for each he has created an expressive geometry, precise in evoking her particular state of mind." (E Alkazi, "Flickering Hieroglyphs: Some Recurrent Themes in Husain's Work," Portrait of an Umbrella, New Delhi: Art Heritage, 1977-78) Husain's masterful handling of his subject was informed by his studies of miniature painting, classical sculpture, and his own travels and observations of rural and urban life. Husain experimented with form, mood and style in each work, and no two are ever quite the same.

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site